INNOVATION IN A ROLEPLAYING GAME, 2004

This Sub-Award is awarded to the game that stretches the
RPG experience in new ways. It may be a particular innovative mechanic
that has never been used in other games (or never been used as well as
previous games), or it changes the dynamics of a regular game group (the
standard 3-6 players and one gamemaster). Or, it might even turn the concept
of "RPG" on its ear. Innovation and exploration is what this
Sub-Award honors.

THE AWARD FOR INNOVATION IN 2004 GOES TO...

DOGS IN THE VINEYARD / with 87 points

Selected Peer Feedback:

"DitV -- makes some substantial changes to the way
games are played."

"Dogs has the best reward system of any roleplaying
game ever imagined. It makes me want to play right now just thinking about
it."

"Dogs in the Vineyard puts character interaction first
in its very intricate and innovative rules set."

"Really, it's self-evident. A major development in
narrative roleplaying."

"Dogs in the Vineyard has shown that even the strangest
game can be gripping, and has set a new standard for mechanics featuring
an escalating conflict."

"Dogs in the Vineyard: "here's what you do now."
All game texts should be like this. It blows my mind that telling people
how to run the game is an innovation, but it's our biggest one this year."

"DitV: Begins play where it matters: player choice
& consequence. And finally puts the rest of the rules for gm'ing down
on paper."

RUNNERS UP:

PRIME TIME ADVENTURES / with 50points

"Most games have one cool new element that breaks ground
in gaming, which is sometimes awesome but usually sucks. PTA seems to
be entirely composed of these elements, and they all rock."

"A group playing PTA just doesn't work like a standard
RPG group. Everybody's "on" all the time. It's like magic."

"PtA: Nothing will ever be the same, now that we have
PtA. One word: Fanmail."

"PRIMETIME ADVENTURES is not the first RPG to feature
story control issues, but is the first to resolve the system in anything
like a satisfactory manner."

LACUNA / with 33 points

"Lacuna -- maddeningly intriguing setting that you
just want to plumb the depths of."

"You'd have to go a long way in the innovation stakes
to beat a game where the characters' heart beat is their main statistic."

"LACUNA PART I may well be one of the few RPGs to address
multiple-narrative gaming."

CODE OF UNARIS / with 28 points

"Hacking. Dude."

"CoU: Taking rpg design down new pathways, for the
technologies of today."

"Unaris goes for a while new medium for role-playing,
and turns what had been an inconvenience into a feature."

DEAD INSIDE / with 26 points

"DI -- I think the potential for highly personal and
emotional play in DI is remarkable."

"Dead Inside - The truest inversion of "kill them
and take their stuff" ever seen. Dead Inside doesn't just present
an unusual setting and exciting premise -- it establishes a new gaming
paradigm. Stellar stuff."

"Dead Inside has one of the most original premises
I've seen in years."

THE SHADOW OF YESTERDAY / with 25 points

"The Shadow of Yesterday has introduced ideas to RPGS,
in terms of customizing one's experience and letting the GM know what
sort of game you're interested in, that will be imitated by other RPGs
for years to come."

FASTLANE / with 21 points

"Fastlane is nothing if not innovative, not so much
for the bread-and-circuses of the roulette wheel and the nature of character
relationships and the players' relationships to them."

"Fastlane - man, roulette wheel. And it works! It's
a very well-designed game that makes the wheel more than just a gimmick."

"Fastlane has a roulette wheel, for crying out loud,
and it's in no way 'novel' or 'gimmicky.' It's in fact clever and entirely
appropriate."

"FASTLANE's use of a roulette wheel is innovative,
albeit pointless."

"Fastlane is not only innovative for the roulette resolution
- what people miss is that it's about betting parts of the character.
Not just about getting from point A to point B per the usual for resolution."

BONES / with 17 points

"BONES: unique mechanics with customizable dice."

"BONES has shown the amazing Gamist possibilities inherent
in customizable dice. It's "old school" in flavor and intent,
but not in mechanics, which makes it a game to watch."

"I find the roll-playing not role-playing bent interesting.
It's nice to see a game embracing dice. :)"

NO PRESS RPG ANTHOLOGY / with 17 points

"The NPA has games with strong GMs, with multiple GMs,
GMs with secrets, drunk GMs. How more innovative can you get?"

WYRD IS BOND / with 11 points

"Wyrd is Bond: a great new take on urban magic."

CAT / with 8 points

"Cat: Not the first game where you can play a cat,
but still a pretty rare concept."

"Brilliant idea. I thought of it years ago and I'm
kicking myself for not doing anything with it! :-)"

NINE WORLDS / with 5 points

OTHERS:

ENEMY GODS: "Everyone plays
two characters; a god and a hero who may not be allied with one another. It\'s
the perfect game to capture the darkness of Elric or the glory of the Trojan
War."

ADVENTURES IN DELVING: "I think
the idea of statting and treating locations and scenes like characters that
are in conflict or in support of the player characters is very interesting."

the farm: "Excellent small
scale game. Horror from a mundane and still terrifying perspective."

TRIALS OF THE GRAIL: "Trials of the
Grail - I love, love, love the idea of same story, different setting. Great
stuff."

RUN ROBOT RED: "Fun with a
subtext, nice work."

IN GENERAL: "It's all rehash crap,
including the stuff we make. There hasn't been innovation in RPGs in years."

IN GENERAL: "Indie games continue
to push the envelope, challenge assumptions, and show game hobbyists new wasy
to have fun."